French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde is planning to visit China, India and Brazil to seek support for her bid to head the International Monetary Fund (IMF). She said she is willing to visit the three countries in order to ease concern regarding her candidacy.

According to French defense Minister Gerard Longuet who is on a visit to India for two days, at the beginning of Lagarde’s formal tour her first stop will be Delhi. She is starting this tour for her campaign to become the first woman managing director of IMF. Longuet said the dates are yet being worked out but she will visit soon.

Due to the emerging economies people are raising voice in concerned about the continuing hold of European nations over IMF. Since the inception of IMF all the 10 managing directors till now have been European. The leaders of developing economies in displeasure raised their voice saying the head of the global body will be chosen absolutely on merit base.

As per the transcript of comments issued by the Foreign Ministry, India’s Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said “We would like to remind the industrialised world that there is a tacit agreement that the top positions in international financial institutions must not go to specific countries as a matter of right”.

Of the emerging economies India is one of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) group demanding that the next head of the IMF should be chosen from a developing country and not from Europe as the tradition was going on for long.

Longuet said it is not important to see that she is a European but the important thing to see is that she is has the efficiency to handle the position. Lagarde said to Europe 1 radio that she has proposed China, Brazil India and other African countries to visit them and firstly she would travel to Brazil as it was the first state who responded on her proposal. The officials of Brazil had previously confirmed Lagarde’s trip and also said that another leading candidate for IMF’s position, the Mexico’s central bank governor Agustin Carstens was expected in Brazil on Wednesday.

In the past few years there has been a drastic change in the balance of global financial power. The economies of China and India have grown faster in the developed world and made them the important players on the stage of the world. At the same time its influence on the global bodies such as IMF has not altered much. And according to India’s Prime Minister Dr Singh it will take long duration for the change to happen.

He also added “You do recognise that those who exercise power, they don’t want to give up power and therefore the struggle for a better, balanced world order, a more equitable world order, including the management of global institutions like the IMF, World Bank, Security Council… it is going to be a long haul, I am afraid”.

Professor Charles Adams of Singapore of the Lee Kuan Yew School Of public Policy imitated the views of Dr Singh saying though IMF had been moving towards the right direction but the step was too slow.